NJ puts $135M in federal Sandy money into affordable housing

Aug. 16, 2013

Written by

@KenSerranoAPP

The state will funnel $135 million of federal Sandy money into affordable housing, creating 2,250 units in the nine counties most damaged by the storm, including Monmouth and Ocean.

The announcement was made Thursday at the former Clarion Hotel and Convention Center in Egg Harbor Township, a complex damaged by Sandy that will now be converted into 83 affordable rental units.

The money also will fund 33 other projects for low- to moderate-income families and individuals with special needs in Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union counties.

The money is being drawn from two funds that are part of the $1.83 billion in federal money New Jersey has so far received to rebuild after the storm: the Fund for Restoration of Multifamily Housing and the Sandy Special Needs Housing Fund.

Both programs provide zero- and low-interest loans to for-profit and nonprofit developers to build affordable housing in the form of new construction, conversion of vacant commercial or industrial buildings or the rehabilitation of uninhabitable dwellings, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.

The state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency estimates that the 34 projects will create 5,660 full-time jobs, $275 million in pay and other compensation and $940 million in spending during the initial construction period. That activity would generate about $33 million in one-time state and local tax revenue, according to the HMFA.